Nuclear medicine procedures to diagnose renal disorders

Background. Renal studies have a long tradition in nuclear medicine and are available for routine use for more than 30 years. Their high clinical acce ptance is mainly based upon the fact that they allow for quantitative evalu ation of different functional parameters such as glomerular filtration, eff ective renal plasma flow,or postrenal transport. The used methods are valid ated by experimental as well as numerous clinical studies and are performed throughout the world in a highly standardized way. Indications. Indications are verification/exclusion of a disturbed renal function, detec tion or evaluation of renal artery stenosis, and differential diagnosis of urinary tract obstruction. Further diagnostic improvement might be achieved by use of positron emission tomography which has the potential for absolut e quantification of physiological parameters such as renal blood flow in mi min(-1) . 100g(-1) tissue.